Judge clamps down on Gator

A federal judge on Friday ordered software company Gator to temporarily stop displaying pop-up advertising over Web publishers' pages without their permission.

The order was issued in a lawsuit filed against Gator in June by The Washington Post, The New York Times, Dow Jones and seven other publishers, which allege the company's ads violate their copyrights and steal revenue.

The companies had sought a temporary injunction against Gator preventing it from delivering ads keyed to their sites pending the resolution of the suit, in which they are seeking a permanent injunction against the company and monetary damages for any advertising dollars made from their Web pages.

Terence Ross, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the judge quickly granted the motion, prohibiting Gator "from tampering with the 16 Web sites involved in the litigation during the pendency of the case.

"This really is a clear-cut case in my opinion; Gator is infringing our copyrights and trademarks. The judge came to that conclusion, and a jury will make the same decision in a trial."

News source: ZDNet